WELCOME

I am making the leap. I'm starting this blog to celebrate the adventures of reading. If kids get hooked up with the right books - ones that pull them into the stories - they will become lifelong learners. Granted there are a lot more distractions today than there were when I was a young reader, but the richness of the brew when an interesting location meets well-defined characters and terrific storytelling just can't be beat.

My mother started reading to me when I was an infant. As the oldest of an extensive brood, my mother was still reading to me when I was in high school (that is, if I chose to grace the family with my presence) as they gathered each evening before bed. And all the hours I spent cuddled with my own fresh-from-the-bath boys are some of my sweetest memories of their growing-up years.

Sometimes I think our culture has lost its moorings. So much attention is spent on things that are unimportant. Reading with a child provides the opportunity to share so much more than the words on the page. What all those things are and why they're important will be part of what I'll write about here.

But mostly we're going to talk about books. Good books.